


Even Heroes Need Help

by 07WhiteLightning



Category: Daredevil (2003), Daredevil (Comics), Daredevil (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Physical Torture, Psychological Torture, Threats, Torture, Violence, prisoner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-02-04 22:39:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12781134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/07WhiteLightning/pseuds/07WhiteLightning
Summary: When Tony is hurt, Sam is a prisoner and Clint is the only Avenger available it is up to Matt to save the day





	1. Chapter 1

* * *

A man was watching Daredevil from several blocks away, his silhouette stood out on the roof of a seven story building, though Daredevil couldn't care less whether he was visible or not, he could still sense him there clear as day.

The man been tailing him all night and Daredevil was getting sick of it, but he didn't give any indication that he was aware of this as he took down six men steadily, they were all a mix of thieves and gangsters who'd chosed the wrong night to beat up a lone old man on the sidewalk.

Matt was annoyed the world had come to such a thing as six men against one who could hardly hobble around.

Matt finished them off and dragged them out of the alleyway into the open, sirens began wailing before he finished dragging the last one to the sidewalk so Matt left him where he was, just in sight of any officers who came, Matt had just got himself out of sight when the first cop car pulled up.

Half an hour later, Matt stood on the roof over a few blocks from his tailing shadow, when he was within hearing distance, he said,

"What do you want? you can't have been following me around all night for no reason." Matt announced

"but I do have reasoning, I wanted to see for myself whether you were worthy of the name daredevil." the stranger teased, 

"tell me the real reason." Matt smirked, by now the man was only feet away,

"C'mon, you seriously don't recognise me?" his voice was tinged with disappointment,

Matt realised he must have been someone famous,

"Maybe I do know who you are and I'm not a fan." Matt protested, hoping the stranger would give more hints, it worked.

"C'mon, who doesn't like the avengers? we're superheroes! I mean, not to say you arent one, but you know what I mean don't you?" the stranger sputtered,

"I don't really take much notice of tv, so no, I'm not really a fan, I don't even know who half of the members are." Matt admitted,

"so you don't recognise me."tthe stranger sighed,

"I thought we'd just established that." Matt reminded him, the stranger came closer so they were ten feet apart, his body language was telling Matt that he felt a bit intimidated but was facing his obvious hesitancy as if it weren't there, trying to seem confident, Matt almost smirked at this.

"Clint Barton, pleasure to make your acquaintance." he said, "you might know me better by my other name-"

"Hawkeye." Matt interrupted gruffly, "Why are you here?"

"Stark- I mean- Iron man said to tell you we need someone with your skillset to help us," Clint suggested, 

"then why'd he send a messenger instead of coming himself?" Matt had heard of tony stark of course, who hadn't?

"He kinda has a concussion from an incident with his faulty suit, so now we're in a bit of trouble, Falcon has gotten himself caught along with several civilians and I'm the only Avenger other than himself who is around,"

"where are they?" Matt asked, alerted now, Clint winced,

"thats actually what I'm not sure about, I was sort of hoping you might have a source who knows all the going ons around here?"

Matt sighed, "I might, I'll look around, give me two days and meet me here again around 9:00 and we'll plan from there."

"yeah, yeah, take all the time you need." Clint sounded relieved, Matt nodded and started to walk away,

"hey, Daredevil!" Clint called, Matt stopped, "yeah?"

"thank you," Clint called, then added under his breath "for not breaking my arm or killing me." normal people wouldn't have heard the last bit but Matt did, he nodded in acknowledgement, jogging away, he chuckled to himself over Clints obvious fear of him,

'How could someone be so afraid of him when they weren't afraid to fight hand to hand with aliens?' he wondered.

Matt was careful Clint had headed back before he climbed into his apartment.

* * *

 

Clint returned to the tower and checked the time, 3:00, he wondered how Daredevil managed to get any sleep then figured he probably had a afternoon job that started at 12:00 or something, Tony was still on the sickbed but JARVIS told Clint he was awake so Clint went down to him to tell him the good news.  
"so he wants to meet us in two days? it could be too late, Ive already been searching for three days and look what happened, we need to get them sooner, we need to find him sooner rather than later." Tony said, "I'll go tomorrow night."  
"you better not, he's already going out of his way for us and if you don't rest you'll take longer to heal,"  
"does that mean you'll go?" Tony asked, "thanks for offering, I knew I could count on you,"  
"what? but-" Clint sputtered,  
"I'm going to sleep now, I just got really tired, JARVIS, get me a pain med will ya? I'll see you in the morning Clint." Tony cut him off, obviously dismissing him, Clint was annoyed but figured they could talk in the morning.

______________________________________

"I'm not scared, the guy just gives me bad vibes, I'd prefer not to annoy him," Clint admitted, Tony chuckled,  
"naw, you're scared,"  
"I am not having this discussion with you." Clint answered, "fine, I'll go if you stop teasing me."  
"alright, I'm stopping." Tony gave in with a grin and Clint cursed as he realised this was exactly what Tony wanted,  
"you're shocking."  
"I know."

that night, 7:00  
Matt stood back in the shadows, watching Melvin fiddle with his tools a minute before stepping into sight, feeling guilty as Melvin sighed wearily at the sight of him,  
"What've you done to the suit this time?" he asked, turning around,  
"nothing, I'm here for information."  
"what sort?"  
"ive heard of a new gang, they may be bragging about capturing an avenger? I need to know who to go to for this sort of information, please."  
Melvin shrugged, still fiddling with his tools, "If anyone hears anything, Andy'd be the person to know first."  
"where would I find him?" Matt asked urgently,  
"friday nights he hangs around the bar on 44th, other times, no idea, the bartender might know a thing or two. I can't tell you anymore or someone'll come after Betty an' me."  
Matt wasnt surprised that Melvin still didn't trust him, the poor guy had had it hard all his life, why should he trust a total stranger so soon after Fisk?  
"Melvin, i won't let anyone get Betty or you, I promised that and I keep my promises." Matt insisted,  
Melvin nodded after a minute of indecision, "Ok,"  
"thanks for trusting me, Melvin, I won't let you down." Matt assured him as he turned and left.

_________________________________________

"Where does Andy live?" Matt demanded gruffly, the man being pushed against the wall whimpered,

"I have no idea who Andy is!" he rambled, his heartbeat told Matt otherwise and he slammed a fist into his face,

"I'm going to ask you that question again and if you lie again your arm gets three joints instead of two." Matt hissed darkly, preparing to break the mans arm as he asked

"do you know-"

"at 46th and 11th, top floor, I swear I don't know the exact number!"

"thank you." Matt said, letting go of the man, who stumbled, by the time he got his balance, he looked up and Daredevil was gone.

while standing above the building, Matt determined three apartments had occupants within and he debated which one to go into, he listened tothe chatter of some late nighters in one of the apartments as he debated bringing the bartender along to point Andy out, suddenly one of them, clearly drunk, burst into hysterical laughter,

"I got you there Andy!" he yelled,  
the other man chuckled quieter as his hand of cards hit the table with a thump,

"no ye didn't,Joe!" jeering urupted around the table as the three other guys realised 'joe's' mistake  
Matt crept in the roof escape then into the room, targetting the first three guys in line with billy clubs, the last two conscious were crazy drunk Joe and Andy who was making his way towards Matt around the table, Matt easily ducked his punch, throwing him over his back into the wall, he hit the wall with a resounding crack and was stunned for a minute, Matt used this to take out Joe, and as he stood, Andy rose behind him with a knife in hand, he tried to plunge it into Matts back and Matt ducked, spinning, he rammed Andy the wall again, this time cracking at least two ribs, Andy howled in pain clutching his chest, trying to breathe properly, Matt held him against the wall and felt his defeat resonating through the air

"what do you know of an Avenger being held hostage?" Matt asked calmly,

"noth-nothing!" Andy gasped, his face almost white with terror,  
Matt was surprised to find he was telling the truth,

"is there any hostage situations happening that you know of?"

"no." lie  
Matt twisted his arm, almost dislocating it,

"you sure?"

"Wait, actually there is one! it's down in an abandoned warehouse on 9th and 47th!"

"how many hostages?"

"I don't know for sure, nine or ten!"

Matt rewarded this with a hard fist that knocked him out.

 

* * *

 

 

Matt parkoured over the rooftops to the right address, sure enough, there were nine tied up people asleep inside with six sitting around them holding guns, another six guarding just inside the entrance, Matt hoped this was falcons kidnappers, but figured it didn't matter if he helped normal civilians either way, he knew he wouldn't be able to do it alone though, he would still have to wait until the next night, so he headed home then stopped.

Hawkeye was holding a bow this time, sitting on the edge of a building close to Matts building, Matt walked over, he got within five metre before Hawkeye saw him, he flinched, quickly getting to his feet, as he did this Matt noticed his quiver of arrows as the wind whistled through them,

"I thought we agreed on two days." Matt greeted him with, Clint shrugged apologetically,

"they've been prisoners long enough I figured, that is, if you've found them?"  
Matt nodded, Clint looked surprised and Matt realised why he had seemed grouchy a minute ago,

"It wasn't your idea to come early." he noted,  
Clint shrugged,

"Sometimes its easier to make a trip to Hells Kitchen then to put up with Starks pestering,"  
Matt laughed inwardly, Stark may be smart but Matt personally wasn't a fan of the billionaires attitude of himself being the perfect hero.

"ok, let's go then, y' know where 9th and 47th is?"

"not off the back of my hand," Clint admitted, "lead on,"

Matt did, wondering what Clint would do if he knew he was being led by a blind man.

_________________________________________

As Matt explained the situation, he could almost feel Clint's curiosity at him knowing where everyone was,

"okay, so I'll sneak past the first lot and work through the second lot while you take the entrance, that way no hostages get shot while we are getting through the first lot, deal?"

Clint nodded and Matt headed to the roof where he came in through the manhole he'd seen earlier, crashing through to the floor, he rolled as he landed and kicked the legs out from under the first guard, delivering a hard punch to the skull that knocked him out, by now all the guards were alerted, however, for some reason Matt couldn't hear Clint anywhere, a strike of fear ran through him as he briefly wondered if this had been a trap from the avengers.

Matt dodged the first lot of bullets and knocked out another man, throwing his billy club at the power circuit he could hear buzzing, the men yelled in the confusion and Matt took note of where the captives were, then moved in the opposite direction so they weren't shot at, then took the men out one by one.

Someone turned on a buzz of electricity and Matt realised it was a torch, he came behind the man with it and knocked him out, and he slammed the torch into the wall a few times until the electricity stopped.

However now the guns started going off again as the men realised where he was, by now there were only four left, Matt grappled with one holding a gun, he found the trigger and waited until he knew it wasn't facing anyone then discharged all its bullets in a shower of gunfire then hit the gun into the mans head, he knocked the rest out in a similiar manner.

Matt searched for Clints heartbeat, it was just inside the door, they must've been expecting him and showered him with bullets first.

Clint was wearing a bulletproof vest, so he wasn't hurt too badly, one bullet to the thigh that was through and through, with several broken ribs from the impact of the bullets to the vest, Matt knelt beside him and checked his breathing, it was slightly rugged, he was out cold and Matt tied some rope just above the wound so he didn't bleed out.

Matt figured his wounds could wait until he'd checked the captives, who hadn't made a sound since he started the fight, he wasn't surprised to find they were all unconscious too, they were all men you'd expect to be able to defend themselves, Matt was surprised to find, but their hearts were also beating a little too slow to be only unconscious and Matt realised they were drugged, but it was wearing off, which was why Matt hadn't noticed it earlier, he patted one lightly on the cheek and he gasped, returning to conciousness abruptly

"I don't know anything!" he gasped,

"hey, it's alright I won't hurt you, what's your name?" Matt asked gently, the man realised it was Daredevil and chuckled weakly

"he came." he whispered,

"what's your name?" Matt asked again urgently,

"Jack." he said, sitting up slightly, Matt had looked up who Falcon was earlier that day,

"is Sam Wilson in here?"

"I don't know." Jack said with a shrug,  
so Matt freed him and moved on too the next one, the second last one woke up easier than the rest and yelled loudly upon awakening, struggling against his bonds for a minute, then he seemed to realise where he was and stopped, looking around in the still dark warehouse he smirked,

"you teamed up then?"

"you must be Sam." Matt answered, cutting his and the man beside hims bonds,

"yep," Sam stood unsteadily and Matt grabbed his arm to help him,

"Clints the one who came to me, he needs help," Matt said, leading him to Clint, who was still unconscious, Sam knelt beside him, checking his pulse,

"he good to go to hospital?"

"not really, I'll call stark." Sam grabbed Clints phone and dialed Starks number,

"Sam, we need to go!" Matt said, suddenly aware of several heartbeats sneaking close to them, he heaved Clint over his shouders while Sam talked to Stark in a hushed voice, threst of the men had already escaped and they must've called the police, sirens came towards them.

Matt ran into an alleyway, dumped Clint, leaving to help him as he ran toward their pursuers, flipping to avoid bullets as he kicked someones head in.

 

* * *

 

 

Clint woke to the sound of gunshots, he looked up to see Sam knelt beside him talking on Clints phone, he was in a shadowy alleyway he realised, he could vaguely see Daredevil doing his gymnastic moves, somehow avoiding all the bullets, then Clint realised he couldn't have avoided the one that hit his shoulder, causing him to spin, turning it into a roundhouse kick.

Clint realised it was hopeless, and Daredevil seemed to know it too, they were dead if help didn't arrive soon, Clint tried to stand, but swore instead, that hurt! Sam realised he was awake.

"I guess I don't have to ask how your feeling then?"

"we need to go out and help him!" Clint gasped,

"I would if i didn't know I'll be shot to peices the second i go out there, then thered be three men to carry to the tower instead of two. Starks coming anyway." Sam said, Clint saw the hopelessness in his eyes and realised,

"they hurt you pretty bad in there?"

"not as bad as you are but i can barely walk, let alone fight."

Matt was exhausted, his adrenalin was screaming for him to run, but this was where Sticks training kicked in, when his arms screamed in pain, enough bullets hitting him so his brain was starting to get fuzzy.

Matt kept on, the need to protect the two strangers in the alleyway driving him forward.

he was distracted for a minute as a new whirring sound reached his ears, it landed beside him and the men stopped shooting for a second before they started again and in a split second they all dropped dead as several tiny guns came out and opened up their heads.

Matt froze, unsure whether to run or fight, trying to figure out exactly what the machine was, when Sam yelled

"hey Stark! over here!" and Matt realised this was the iron man suit, he clutched at his side where a bullet had gone through and limped back to Clint, staying upright by sheer willpower as he leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as his head grew dizzy due to blood loss, he became aware of something flying towards them.

His adrenalin shot up again and he punched it as hard as he could, it was defying gravity as it moved from his punch but continued on its way to Clint, wrapping around him, turning into some sort of iron man suit, Matt suddenly realised they were all looking at him now, they must have asked him something while he was focused on following the movement of the apparatus turned iron man suit.

"what?" his voice came out as a slur,

"I'll bring him back, he'll probably freak if we us a suit on him, you want a suit?" Stark was talking about him to Sam, he vaguely realised, another piece of metal flew at them and Matt left this one alone, it wrapped around Sam and he floated away at the same time as Clint did.

Matt turned his head at them in surprise, Starks helmet opened and Matt was suddenly aware of his face shape which had been blocked by the machine,

"Helloooo you there yet?, Ive been talking to you," Stark waved a hand in front of Matts face and Matt caught it through instinct,

"thats better, now listen horny, you really need some medical attention, your xrays say you've got at least three bullets still in you, so I'm going to carry you wedding style, is that okay? your not going to try and attack me like you attacked that suit?"

"no, no hospitals." Matt blurted out, annoyance resignated from Stark

"I just finished telling you im bringing you to the tower where you'll be allowed to leave whenever." Stark answered.

Matt was surprised, he wasnt normally so out of it that he missed whole sentences, he shrugged in answer and Stark picked him up, he hissed loudly at his wounds being jostled then fell into the peaceful bliss of unconsciousness.


	2. Waking up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt wakes up with no idea where he is, you can imagine how well that goes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've edited this chapter so it fits in better with chapter four, just to clear up any misunderstandings:)   
> Hope you all enjoy

Matt groaned as he woke up, panicked when he didn't recognise anything, someone was bent over him

"Daredevil! calm down! your safe, your not in a hospital!" he said urgently,

Matt realised hed been woken by getting stitched up, he got up quickly, gasping at the pain, stood, tried to take a step then collapsed.

 

Matt woke up and jerked his head up, sorting his senses to tell him where he was, it seemed like a hospital but it was too high off the ground and he realised it was possibly the avengers tower, he had a cannula in his left arm which was receiving fluids, Matt reached up and also found his mask was still on, though they could easily have removed it and were simply humouring him by putting it back on.

Matt took a quick assessment of his wounds, one hole to the left shoulder, two that his suit and ribs had hit, another that had grazed his right side, he found he was surprisingly free of drugs, he vaguely remembered telling Stark no drugs, but he wasn't sure if Stark had heard him, obviously he had, he now realised.  
Someone walked in the room, it wasn't Stark or Clint, Matt sat up abruptly, wincing at the pain but focusing on the task instead of the pain, ready to fight if need be, the man stopped at his reaction,

"whoa man! If I was gonna kill you I would've done it before operating on you!" he said said, talking 100 words a minute clearly concerned with what Matt would do if he didn't convince him.

Matt recognised the sincerity in his words and relaxed back into the pillows carefully, still wary but choosing to trust him for now,

"who are you?" Matt urged,

"Bruce Banner, and you are?" he inquired jokingly, Matt snorted,

"they call me Mike, you can call me what you like, tell me though, was my mask off at all since I was in here?"

"no." Bruce answered honestly,

"so have you figured out my identity?" Matt asked,  
"I haven't, can't guarantee Tony not to do so soon though, he's bound to have gotten some dna off you the way you were bleeding on his suit."

Matt sighed, he wasn't thinking straight when he'd agreed for Stark to bring him here, he almost regretted even agreeing to help free Sam, but shook off his negative thoughts, he couldn't let someone get killed to protect his identity like Sam would've done, however, now he thought of it...

"why didn't Stark go free Sam, I know he had a concussion or something but he seemed alright when he did come."

"you weren't conscious when he arrived obviously," Bruce chuckled, "he was poisoned a few days ago, he barely survived, he was really pushing it when he went, especially bringing you all the way back too."

Matt winced at the thought, "I didn't mean to do that to him, If I'd known I wouldn't have..."

"no, you would've probably had a panic attack by the sounds of how you were that night."  
it was then Matt noticed how old his wounds were,

"why didn't you tell me I've been here two days!" Matt demanded, he suddenly remembered todays court case, "Ive gotta go, fogs gonna... oh no! he'll kill me!"

Matt jumped up and swayed, leaning on the wall as his knees almost buckled, he pulled out the canulla jerkily and pressed the bleeding spot for a minute, Bruce was shocked for a second,

"No no no no! stop! your going to kill yourself before whoever he is can, you can call whoever it is!" he insisted, Matt gave a choked laugh,

"no way am I getting out of this one, he'll never forgive me, what time is it?"

"4:42"  
and just like that Matt sank back onto the bed again, "too late," he said with a gasp,

Bruce doubted even Tony could be as resiliant as this guy, he seemed to be able to switch pain on and off at will.  
speeking of whom...  
Stark walked in, holding a phone, "here you go, use this to call him." he held it out and Matt studied it thoughtfully, it was a weird one the he knew would be useless for a blind man, so he decided he could call him later,  
"its alright, thanks anyway, I'll call him later." Tony and bruce had left the floor soon after to let Matt rest and Matt noticed a cup of water on the desk beside him and suddenly realised how thirsty he was, he gulped it down and fell asleep soon after in exhaustion.

Clint had been watching the security cameras to pass the time, he took note of how Daredevil managed to stand, twice, first when he was completely disoriented and second when he wanted to leave, he had been shot four times and shouldn't have even woken up yet according to Bruce, who hadn't been sure if he'd survive the surgery of removing the bullets, let alone stand minutes after surgery, Clint was impressed, this guy had some serious training up his sleeve though c  
Clint didnt envy him this, he guessed it had probably been somewhat like natashas, which she thought of as living in hell.

"hey JARVIS?"

"yes Mr Barton?" came the AI,

"has Stark figured out daredevils identity yet?"

"Mr Stark told me not to find out his identity and he hasn't tried to figure it out either." JARVIS replied. Clint wondered why Tony would deliberately not try to find out.


	3. Missing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of talking and a bit of suspence at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for waiting soo long to put this up! I've been having a bit of family saga so I wasn't really in the mood for much writing:( 
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy and please please please comment!

chapter 3  
Matt woke up calmer the next time, they'd reinjected the cannula and he was back on the drip, he sat up and meditated for awhile, though he still listened for any heartbeats on this floor in case Bruce came back, which he didn't, it was Sam who came in after awhile, standing awkwardly in the doorway, "hey, thankyou for going and fighting all of those men to free me and afterwards saving Mine and clints life, I honestly thought things were hopeless for us all but you stayed out there fighting still-" Matt shook his head, 

"it wasn't me who saved you, it was Stark, he helped us all at our weakest, thank him, not me," 

"I did, and he accepted my thank you quite happily, but then said thanking you was also in order."

Matt shook his head and didn't answer, Sam grinned, "you should take lessons off stark with accepting thanks, he's the total opposite to you."

"no, I didn't save you, I wasn't careful enough, I should've known it was too easy." Matt mumbled, Sam shook his head, 

"you did all you could, you freed me, helped Clint, and fought like a crazy ninja,"

Matt was still unconvinced, but didn't say so, Sam seemed to realise nothing he said would change Matts mind and he sighed, 

"anyway, I've gotta go, I'll be back later." Sam said,

Matt nodded and Sam walked away.  
Matt got back to meditating, it was almost three hours before Bruce came in again, he looked surprised at Matt,

"I didn't realise you were awake or i wouldve come earlier, I've been down in the lab, I could've sent someone up or you can come to Clints room to keep you busy, you met JARVIS yet?"

"no, whos he?"

"it is an AI." Bruce said, "hey JARVIS, introduce yourself to Daredevil,"

"good morning." came a voice from several tiny hidden speakers around the room, "My name, as Mr Banner just said, is JARVIS, this is standing for Just A Rather Very Intellegent System, it was also the last name of mr starks' fathers personal servant. I was created by Mr Stark in 2005. would you like for me to call you by your own name or continue to call you daredevil?"

"what makes you think you know who I am?" he straightened, Bruce smiled and left the room.

"I have an 80 percent match using voice and body recognitions, and matching your capabilities to anyone in hells kitchen," JARVIS paused "do you want me to tell you sir?"   
Matt shrugged, was down two floors so no one was around for now,

"Are you Patrick Flueger?" he asked,

"Who?" Matt asked as answer, knowing this was a typical way for someone to try to throw off a person who was on the right track, figuring JARVIS to be smart enough to now be confirming is suspicions, "who on earth... why would someone like him choose vigilantism?" Matt stumbled over his words quickly like he'd heard guilty people do so many times in court, 

"Mr Flueger, you are an accomplished police officer, surely you know what you just said 90% confirmed my suspicions." JARVIS said,

"then i wouldn't have said that would I?"

"your reaction has neither confirmed nor overridden your chances of being Mr Flueger." JARVIS answered, "Shall I pick up another name on my list for you?"

"If you want." Matt said, though he really didn't want to, in case his name was amongst the accused and he reacted wrong, he was saved by Tony Starks entrance. 

"JARVIS, are you annoying our guest?"  
"merely working on his identity, sir." came JARVIS' reply, Matt smirked,   
"if thats working on my identity then you've got a long way to go before face recognition becomes a real thing," he declared sitting up carefully with a wince, "am i cleared to leave yet?"   
"hey JARVIS, get banner, will ya?" Tony ordered be fore replying to Matt, "I can't clear you without him being annoyed at me so he can clear you instead and save the hassle."   
Banner came up through the lift,   
"JARVIS insisted I come up, he reckoned it was an emergency?" Banner said, looking first at Matt than at Stark,  
"it is, horny wants to leave, so i suggest you suit up, it'll be the epic battle between hulk and daredevil, wadd'ya think?" he asked looking the two inimpressed faces appraisingly, "I'll take that as a no?"  
"I'll throw him out the window while you run." Matt told Bruce straight-faced, Bruce laughed,  
"seriously though, why'd you guys call me up?"  
"you're better at giving our patients bad news?"  
"what bad news?" Bruce and Matt asked at the same time, Matt figured it couldn't be two bad if Bruce didn't know about it,  
"alright, I'll tell you, seeing as Bruce doesn't realise what i mean, you can't leave until you've had at least a week with proper medical care, didn't you say that when we operated, Bruce?"  
"what do you mean? I've already got the fluids I need, all it needs now is rest." Matt said as he spoke he double checked his analysis, no inner trouble that he could tell, unless... "is it internal bleeding?"  
"no no no, nothing like that," Stark said too quickly and Matt easily picked the lie before Stark froze "...yes."  
"how'd you guess? are you a doctor?" Bruce asked, Matt shrugged,   
"lets just say I have alot if experience with wounds." Matt said, neither confirming nor denying the guess, Bruce nodded so slowly Matt almost didn't catch it,   
"how bad?"  
"pretty bad, but we fixed it quick, though your standing didnt help matters much, thats why we tried to keep you still." Bruce said truthfully, Matt nodded, "thank you, I owe you both my life, I'm sorry I took so long to recognise that."   
"it was nothing." Stark waved it off, "now did JARVIS get someone to get you some food? of course he didn't, JARVIS, get someone to bring some up,"  
"yes sir." the british voice complied willingly, then Matt realised if he was staying here a week he was going to be really uncomfortable in his suit, the mask was "alright" because it was a must, however, the rest, not so much.   
"actually, can I get dressed, do you have any spare clothes I could use?  
________________________

Daredevil had left the avengers tower barely a day ago after becoming good friends with each avenger, though he still hadn't trusted any of them enough to remove his mask which was a sore point for all of them but it hadn't caused any major problems. Starks problem now was that Daredevil was missing and Karen Page was blaming them, threatening lawsuit, the only reason she hadn't done it yet was because the secret identity crisis.

"At least dont hurt him," Karen gasped, "he saved my life three times, I need him, and so does his best friend!" she stumbled out of the tower, her eyes red.


	4. Chapter 4

Matt dully woke up and realised he was restrained to a chair, he had a hessian bag over his head which was slightly messing with his senses, he grunted, straining against the ropes as his initial instinct kicked in, then he stopped, realising it was futile. Matt listened for whoever was in the room with him, there were two men sitting on chairs.

"He's awake, get the commander." one of the men whispered to the other. The second man stood, the noise showing Matt the size of the room, it was about three metres square with a taller ceiling.

The commander walked in with an air of confidence that was normal for someone in charge,

"Daredevil, whats your real name?"

Matt groaned again, great, this is going to be one of those interrogations. he thought, wildly trying to come up with something to distract his interrogators from getting that piece of information from him.

Matt grinned as he thought of how the sackcloth being on his head protected his identity because they obviously had no idea he was blind,

"Tell me who you are and we'll let you go."

Matt was surprised to find the leader was telling the truth, of course, he'd sooner tell the avengers.

Matt realised they meant they would let him go and get Foggy and Karen instead.

"are you sure he's awake?"

"yea, didn't you hear him groan?" the second man walked up to him and socked him in the head, Matt got his share of punches at night and this was barely a pat on the cheek in comparisen to some punches, he let it push his head the the side without a sound, this angered the man and he grabbed the sackcloth, ripping it off. Matt closed his eyes for a minute then he moved his head around and squinted.

"There we are... why, your only a young lad, aye?" the leader said mockingly, then added darkly "you threw my brother into prison with a 25 year sentence, and several broken bones, I don't care about your age, you will pay for this and so will everyone you love,"

Matt still didn't dare tell them his identity, he'd figured the day would come that he'd be caught but had hoped it wouldn't be for awhile yet.

"Anyone would have to be a fool to tell you who they are after a speech like that." Matt responded, to his relief, the leader still hadn't noticed his barely tracking eyes, he was too overcome with anger.

"He really is a daredevil, talking to Bruno like that." someone whispered,

"He doesn't know him yet, he'll stop when he realises."

Matt faked a calm exterior as Stick had taught him so many years ago, my mind rules the body. my mind rules the body. my mind... Matt told himself, preparing himself for some form of torture they obviously had planned for him.

The guy Matt guessed to be Bruno stood in front of him, anger resignating from him in waves, Matt guessed he was glaring, and he laughed inwardly at how he was wasting his time on a useless glare,

"Listen man, I have no idea who you or your brother are, I've put alot of people away and broken alot of their bones, you can do whatever you want to me, I won't crack, so you may as well kill me now." Matt said earnestly.

Pain wouldn't be anything new for him but Stick had warned him of torture artists who lived for the screams of people in pain, he'd never gotten aroung to showing him any way of not braking after you go crazy with the pain, he was concerned for Foggy and Karen, blissfully unaware of a life where only the strong survive and he was determined to keep it that way.

"not happening, you gave Gary an awful life where even suicide isn't a possible way out! Nothing you can say will convince me that you are worth a single bullet." he stormed out of the room, his two minions staying behind,

"if I were you I'd do as he says," one started to advise, the other one growled, "no talking to the prisoner!" so the first shut up, his heart pounding in fear.

After a few minutes Matt felt himself drifting to sleep, he just started to detach from the world when a bucket of icy water was thrown over his head, he gasped for breath, trying to get his senses back in order enough to tell him who'd woken him.   
It was the one who'd yelled at the scared one earlier.   
He walked casually to the other side of the room and filled the bucket again as if this was totally normal for him, the other one, -who Matt suddenly realised was barely eighteen years old- had his heart beating at 100 miles an hour now.   
Matt realised this was their form of torture, no sleep or pneumonia, probably whichever snapped him quickest, he guessed.  
What felt like several hours passed and Matt got two more water buckets thrown at him, then Bruno returned, apparently pleased to see him shivering uncontrollably,

"ready to talk yet? or shall we move on?"

Matt didn't answer, trying to focus on breathing and getting his shivering under control, Bruno was frustrated at this and he motioned towards the open door, a short bald man walked in, carrying what Matt detected from its sound and the air currents around it was a small knife, heat emanated from it and it smelt charred and smoky as if it had just been held in front of a fire seconds earlier.  
He sat in front of Matt, who started frantically pulling against his bonds, desperately trying to escape, the knife cut a deep slice across his chest, Matt screamed against the blade as it burnt through his flesh and muscles quickly, the fiery pain kept shooting through him after Baldy finished that cut and started on the next, then Matt managed to get a hold of the fiery mess that was pain and control it into what he needed it to be, controlling it, funnelling it into his arms strengthening them, focusing on pulling his bonds, he stopped making any noise apart from a few more gasps from feeling every fibre of his skin it burned into, after awhile of the little mans handywork, Matt's head flopped down and his eyes closed, to the untrained eye he looked unconscious, Bruno looked at Matts exhausted body in disgust,   
"stop, he needs to be conscious," he motioned to his older sidekick, "wake him up."  
Matt heard all of this vaguely through the fog of pain, he was expecting the cold water this time and though he gasped involuntarily at its coldness, it soothed his many burnt cuts,   
"Are you ready to talk? or do I need to let ol' Blake start his ministrations again?" Bruno sneered.

"do..." Matt gasped in a low voice, "whatever you... want to, I won't tell." he closed his eyes, his eyelids heavy with exhaustion, and Blake, his knife reheated, returned.

 

* * *

 

 

Karen left the avengers in a daze, Sam knew she was only desperate, she couldn't really think they'd kidnap Daredevil after trying to save New York from aliens, Daredevil was obviously doing good work and they weren't going to get in the way of it.   
Stark went up to his floor to 'research Daredevil' while Sam and Steve took to the streets, while Clint and Tash did their own version of spy work together, unsurprisingly, they didn't find anything and Stark didn't even figure out his real identity,

"I still have him down as Patrick Flueger, but thats just an educated guess, plus, it can't be him because I've caught him on camera at 8:00 this morning, and he doesn't have any association with Karen Page that I can see.   
There are six people who work with Karen at her journalist job that are the right height and age, however, only two of these have the right beard stubble and hair colour which I'm guessing dark brown or black, based on the beard and the slight bit of hair hanging out of his mask at the back, when he had his old suit on." Stark rambled to Sam when he asked how he was going with it,

"your going to try to figure out his identity? I thought you'd be looking into the crime lords he's taken down." Sam commented,

"I'm not stupid, of course I've been looking into that, its just proving really hard, do you have any idea how many people this guy has landed in prison? at least a hundred, and thats not including the ones he got revealed as traitors in the Fisk saga."

"thats funny, now you mention it, Karen page worked with the two lawyers that worked the Fisk case, they were in pretty tight with Daredevil, maybe they'd know something." Sam said with a frown.

"you can go ask, theyre more likely to open up to you, being less well-known." Stark said, already engrossed in researching the two lawyers.


	5. Chapter 5

Matt woke up to another bucket of water thrown at his face, he didn't react beyond a small moan, though it had woken his senses for a minute, he was so tired he went straight back to sleep until another bucket was thrown at him and he forced his eyes open in the pretence of being awake, then he realised there were five people in the room, bruno, the two guards and two others.

"lets see him do a backflip now!" one joked with a laugh, the others' heartbeat rose in what Matt realised was sympathy, he was past caring, every inch of his body was in agony which he'd long tuned out, his head was pounding with a never ending migraine. he listened to them talk with barely a thought, automatically tuning in their heartbeats for expression.

"how long have you had him here?"

"almost three weeks, he obviously has no one to miss him, we've been surveying lost person reports and there are none matching his description, he obviously has no one that really cares about him enough to look for him." Bruno's words cut through Matt deeper than any knife could.  
Matt lost his mask of calm for a minute as he processed Brunos words, if Bruno had been looking he would have elaborated further to cause Matt more grief, however, he was watching his guests and didn't notice.

"what were your forms of torture? if I may ask?"

"no food, little water, no sleep, though he gets in the tiniest bits after a session of torture, torture being -obviously- a hot knife cuting minor places that won't permanently damage him, I havent forgotten our agreement to you ladies for you to have a mindless bodyguard, otherwise I would've tried harsher techniques."

"have you tried mental torture?"

"I considered it, but what would our resident man without fear be afraid of?"

"for a leader, Bruno, you are very dumb, what does daredevil do at night?"

"take down criminals."

"by saving people, especially women and children, simply kidnap a child and shoot it in front of him, that should get him talking." the lady said, the other lady, who Matt guessed to be her assistant now stayed nuetral, even somehow controlling her heartbeat, which Matt recognised from some distant memory, which he didnt have the energy to focus on.

"an excellent idea." Bruno said excitedly, "I'll have your name soon now, I can feel it!" he turned to the women, "come, I have a few more tests to show you two."  
they left the room and Matt used the guards distraction to give himself a wink of sleep.

 

Karen and Foggy were getting desperate, Matt had been missing for so long they had to pretend to everyone that he was on a vacation somewhere, not that many people asked after him, mainly previous clients who'd kept in touch and his everfriendly neighbour. 

The news even mentioned a rising crime rate in hells kitchen area, and although they didn't say, Karen read between the lines realising they meant that this was since daredevil had gone missing. 

She had given up on the avengers helping, and was conducting a search by herself, looking through police reports she now had access to, being a reporter, Ellison had noticed her newest obsession and asked her about it, but she gave him no answers, merely telling him it was an idea for a new story she was looking into.

"I think I've found him." Natasha strode into the kitchen, all bussiness, as usual.  
Clint looked up sharply, 

"who? Tony?"

"no, why would I be looking for Tony? I found Daredevil."

"Really? I thought everyone had given up long ago," Clint said in surprise, he'd secretly thought Nat wouldve been a little bit more excited if she'd found the person theyd been looking for weeks ago. 

"why didnt you get him then?"

"I kinda figured you would like to know if a fight was about to take place, and" she added softly, "I'd prefer if you had my back, these guys must be pretty good to have caught Daredevil off guard."

"True, should we assemble the team?" Clint asked.

"Nah, I got a pretty good look around, he's on the top floor of the block on 46th and 12th, its a building full of civilians, so we just need to do a quick in and out to make sure no one else gets hurt in the process,"

"When? should we even tell the others?"

"Jarvis, if we dont contact you in two hours, tell Stark all that I've just told Clint." Nat said with a smirk, 

"Give me five minutes." Clint said.

 

Matt focused all his attention on the poor 6 year old girl in front of him, 

"what? so you would kill an innocent child for something that i did?" he said desperately, 

"yep, she's an orphan anyway, no ones going miss poor little Jane." Bruno said with a chuckle,

"its alright Jane, I won't let anything happen to you." Matt said, Jane didn't respond, though her heartbeat slowed a touch, Matt pulled at his bonds desperately, he knew he'd just made a promise he probably couldn't keep, but he didn't let himself think of the possibility that he'd have her death on his hands if she was killed now. 

Stick was wrong, his weakness wasn't just his friends, it was every helpless person in new york, though now he also saw the value in Sticks teachings, if he'd learnt to kill, he wouldn't have be in this crisis now. Bruno laughed at Matts obvious displeasure, Matt hadn't shown a single weakness before now and he was proud of himself for letting those women come in and give tips on torture.

"she gets the burnt knife in the morning, what do you think? or would she prefer the whip? you can ask ask her tonight, get to know her, better yet, get attached, it'll make it so much worse in the morning." Bruno laughed, throwing Jane to the ground and ripping her gag off but leaving her hands and feet tied, he walked out of the room, Matt was left with Jane and the guards, his eyes staring ahead but all his attention on the girl, who was crying quietly, 

"hey, its okay Jane, is that your name? Jane?"

"yes." she hiccuped, "Jane Allen, are you alive? or are you a robot?" she asked, 

"a robot? what do you? oh," Matt considered what he must look like by now, probably close to a skeleton, his voice was hoarse from screaming, the combination probably making him somewhat robotlike, 

"no, I'm a normal human, I just havent eaten or showered much in awhile." Matt answered, 

"whats your name then?" Jane asked, 

"um, well my friend calls me Mike, you can call me that if you'd like." Matt said softly, 

"Are you really going to make sure they don't kill me?" Jane asked, 

"I'll do my best Jane." Matt promised, 

"ok, goodnight Mike." Jane was so trusting of Matt and Matt desperately wished he could be worthy of that trust.

"Goodnight Jane." Matt answered.  
He still wasn't allowed to sleep and tried to meditate, that was all he could do to keep himself sane these past few weeks, his wounds ached and stung, thankfully none had gotten infected thanks to the almost constant state of being damp, they simply were taking a really long time to heal thanks to Brunos guards not allowing him a wink of sleep, or any food. 

Matt startled, stretching his senses, he'd heard something... there it was! someone was whispering, that was a sound Matt hadn't heard much since he came here and he let the words float to him they were coming from the stairwell, their voices echoed slightly in the empty space, it was a man and woman, Matt vaguely recognised the womans voice from earlier that day, his mind raced with possibilities, could they be Janes parents? 

Maybe she was coming to "steal" Matt to use as a bodyguard like they were talking about earlier? Matt listened as they came closer, now out of the stairwell, taking out six guards at first, then another four right outside his door, the two night guards in the room with Matt heard the commotion, looked at each other, then sprang into action, both had different ideas, one burst through the door with a shower of bullets and the other stood behind m  
Matt, and Matt felt the cold barrel of the gun against his forehead, the one who'd gone out was subdued in seconds and the two intruders stood in the doorway, hesitant, both holding guns,  
the woman made a slight head movement and Matt gave a slow blink, the woman whispered, probably not realising Matt could hear her but for her partners benefit,

"three, two, one."  
Matt whipped his head to the side, and the man was shot in the chest, Matt listened to his heart beat fade out with regret, he could've had a family, he didnt deserve to die, then a new sound knocked him out of his trance, a child, sobbing, he tilted his head, 

"Jane." the crying stopped as Jane looked at him, 

"theyre gonna kill me now!" she sniffed,  
Matt shook his head then lifted it to where the woman was looking at them, are you? his expression asked, then he felt his ropes being cut, he dropped off the chair to the ground, his swollen hands stopping his head from hitting the ground, the man cut his legs free and Matt shifted his attention back to Jane, and found she was being freed by the woman, 

"who?" Matt croaked out,

"you don't recognise us?" the man asked in a broken voice, 

"I do, sort of, I don't know." Matt said slowly, stumbling as he tried to stand and was hit with a wave of dizziness which threw his senses out, and the man caught him, holding him steady, 

"th-thankyou," Matt said in surprise, 

"its Clint, and your welcome." the man, Clint, said,

"Clint, we've gotta go, I bet there are more coming." the woman, who Matt now recognised as Natasha, said, picking up Jane.

Matt listened around,

"and you'd be right, there are atleast six coming, with guns, but they're taking their time,"

"which way?" Clint asked

"the stairs." 

"there'll still be the ones guarding the elevator on the floor too, we'll have to go another way," Nat said, 

"does this building have a fire escape?" Matt asked, he couldve sworn Nat rolled her eyes at him, 

"this way."

Clint went first with Jane in his arms, Matt next gripping the railings for support, and Nat took the rear, just in case.  
they reached the street with no problem, which Matt considered to be a miracle in itself, then they were surrounded, he could hardly hold himself up, but he was ready to defend Jane and himself if need be, he never could run from a fight, but before a single fist was thrown, they all heard the familiar iron man suit screaming through the air.

Tony Stark landed and the men backed off and several ran away, then Matt heard Bruno walk closer, 

"ah, so these are your friends, if I had known I would've let you be,"

"Oh no, these are just my acquaintances," Matt said softly, "My friends are much more powerful than this, you can be glad they aren't the ones that came for me."

"Oh don't you worry, your friends will get to do as they please to him as soon as we bring him to the tower." Stark said, as two cars came around the corner, one to drive Matt, Clint and Nat to the tower and the other to hold Bruno in.

 

Matt fell asleep as soon as they let him into a bed and for the first full day and a half, no matter what they could do, none could wake him, someone told Karen he was there and she arrived while he was asleep, but as soon as she walked in he jolted awake, 

"Karen?"

"its me." she confirmed, tears running down her face, he sat up too quickly for his headache but he tried to ignore it, hugging her tightly, breathing in her sweet scent deeply, afraid he would lose her if he let her go, 

"am I- I'm not dreaming am I?" 

"no, you're not," Karen sniffed.

Clint watched both people from the other side of the interrogating room, 

"how on earth did he do that?"

"what?" Nat asked,

"how did he know she came in, he was definitely asleep, right?"

"yea, I don't know, there are a few other things about him that I don't get, I'm looking into it, he seems to have some sort of super-vision or something," 

Matt laughed then groaned as it hurt his ribs, 

"they think I have super-vision." he said in Karens ear quietly, she snorted, 

"you didn't tell them?"

"no, I don't think they know who I am."

"you should probably tell them,"

"yea, I will, soon, does Foggy know about any of this?"

"all of it, he hasn't come yet because he wasn't sure if they knew who you were,"

"Is there something wrong with my facial recognition software? you'd tell me if there was right?" Tony Stark walked into the room, easily stealing the spotlight,

"you ran facial recognition on me?" Matt asked, "what happened to a persons private rights?"

"you lost that when you put on the mask," Stark waved his words away, 

"are you really Matt Murdock, I mean, it fits, the boy from hells kitchen protecting it, but then again, your meant to be blind arent you?"  
the side of Matt's mouth tugged upward, but other then that he didnt react, 

"ok, that makes sense, you were blind, but you haven't had a doctor inspect you in 20 years, did your sight come back?"  
Matt couldn't help it, he laughed aloud, how long had it been since he'd laughed? 

"that has to be the most absurd thing I've ever heard!"

"then can you tell me what the deal is with you?" Tony said exhasperated

"ok, you deserve it, seeing as that you guys saved my life and all, I'm just a regular blind guy, NLP, I can't see a thing,"

"then how-"

"eyes are overated." Matt said with a shrug

"Could've fooled me, I don't see myself learning to fight while being blind."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NLP = No Light Perception
> 
> Well thats it, Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it, also I'd love to see comments!


End file.
